T-Mobile tops J.D Power's wireless customer care rankings

We have yet to find a single wireless carrier anywhere in the world that doesn't have someone who hates its guts, so keep in mind that at the end of the day these rankings are really all relative, but for the second year in a row J.D. Power and Associates have named T-Mobile as having the best customer care in the U.S. wireless industry. That doesn't mean they've had the fewest complaints or anything, the study is based on a survey of 8,600 wireless subscribers who had contacted their carrier for customer support in the past year and ranked the carriers on stuff like hold times (T-Mobile had the shortest, with hold times of 2.27 minutes vs. the industry average of 3.44 minutes) and "problem resolution efficiency."

[Smack @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

They still have no new phones though, so maybe that saves them on having to do much cust. service. =D

[Jay Contonio @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I especially like the text message every month that my payment is overdue...and the lovely automated customer service lady that takes my information...I look forward to it every month =)

[Dan DiCamillo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I wonder if Paris Hilton would agree.

[Mark @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

When you have fewer customers it's easier to care for them.

[Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Haha, I can't believe somebody ranked lower than Cingular :D That's the suprising part of this survey.

[Perc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Haha RE Paris Hilton.
RE: somebody ranking lower than Cingular - I HAD Sprint for 1 1/2 years. All my friends that had a Sprint contract suffered the same problem as me - Sprint randomly deciding they owe some outrageous and completely fabricated overdue balance for something they didn't do. Of course, "Claire the Sprint Robot-hobag" is the only customer service you can get... until you're like 8 levels into the phone menu.

Had T-Mo and loved it, but had to abandon it for a corporate Cingular contract. Cingular not anywhere near as good as T-Mo, but still like winning the customer service lottery compared to Sprint.
Sprint = abysmal...

[Dullicky @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Had no complaints with T-mobile. But it is what the smallest of the 6?

That was good about Ms Hilton. I also wish they would get some new phones. Hopefuly they will port some over from T-Mobile Europe...this year.

[Thought @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

This ranking seems about right.

Sprint absolutely sucks. Period. Hopefully it will do better when merged with Nextel.

Cingular has its own problems.

T Mobile can be good, but it's too small of a carrier; it doesn't have as good a coverage, and it's phone selections suck.

Overall, I think Verizon probably is the best combo of service and coverage. Sure, their phones lag behind, but that's because they really make sure the phone works on their network before releasing it. But the actual quality of the network cannot be beat, and right now they're the only one with 3G in any markets.

[Dave @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Great. So at least I think we can all agree Sprint sucks. I just took a $300 hit to leave the bastards. It was worth it.

[Screw T-Blo! @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

This has got to be the biggest load of horse manure anyone has had to read. BULLSHIT!!! T-Blo is one of the dirtiest in the cell phone business.

[jake @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

my 'sprint sucks' story:
according to my phone bill once, I made a call from my home calling area at 8:00am, and then made a roaming call from 250miles away at 8:40am on the same day... I liked making the phone call to the customer support just because it was fun arguing the fact that it wasn't physically possible.

but, yeah, their service sucks and so does there support. I'm a verizon customer and I'm much happier.

ps: I also thought it was funny that at my house we would always get those "would you like to switch carriers" calls from sprint even though we (my family) had every service sprint offered in our area at the time (cell phone, long distance, DSL).

[Dave @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

By the way, Perc, I had the same problem with Sprint--claiming I owed them money I didn't. They are the mafia of the cellphone industry.

[Thought @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I also agree that T-mobile most likely benefited in this survey from the fact that they have far fewer customers.

I've heard good and bad about T-mo...

Verizon is generally regarded as top tier, the one the more affluent as well as techno-savvy users go with...

Nextel is generally regarded pretty highly among its users...

[raaaaaa @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

tmobile must of ran there only 4 good employees in 12 hour shifts for that quarter

[Saurabh @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I'm a T-Mobile customer since 1997 (used to be Omnipoint; same number all these years). I live in NYC. I've been very happy with the wireless service and the customer support. I also have a Sprint cell phone. That's another story!!!

[consumer_q @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Hello
Are those video/photo phones Verizon has right now for promos any good (Samsung SCH-A670) ? I need to renew and am looking for a new cheap, no-so-many-frills, and reliable phone. Of those offered, which fit the bill? http://tinyurl.com/35epf
thanks!

[Motorola 3G Victim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

All I know is every time I go to China my Cingular Motorola V600 (unlocked) never drops a call and always sounds crystal clear. When I come back that very same V600 drops calls in the same places Cingular has dropped GSM calls for 3 years (despite numerous coverage reports.) And don't even get me started on this piece of crap called a Motorola A845 they sold me...

All I can say is, I've seen the technology work amazingly well. It isn't the phone (the A845 being a glaring exception), its the American carrier not giving a damn about the quality of service they provide their customers.

[ryecob @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

spurred by degrading service, i recenty took my phone to the sprint store for updates. following the tune-up, my service has gotten worse! adding insult to injury, i still get random bills for a number disconnected over a year ago. needless to say i can't wait for my contract to expire.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

That's a textbook example of a horribly misleading graph.

The difference between best and worst is about 14%. The difference in the size of the bars in the graph is closer to 50%.

It's safe to say by the numbers that there is very little difference between any of these companies. 14% between best and worst is a marginal difference by any standard.

[Albert Wu @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

#17, How, exactly, is it percent? It does go up to 110, afterall.

[1Up @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Ive been a T-Mobile subscriber for the past 3 years, with my previous carrier being Sprint. I like everything about T-Mobile. Cost, Service. The only gripe I have with them is that they havent upgraded their service. I want Edge damnit, and some new phones to top that off.
Im getting really tired of my sidekick.

[Mark @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

It's not percent, it's an index, but his point is still valid. The graph axis starts at 70. If it started at zero then the differences would look much smaller.

[Justin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Here in NYC Sprint service is top-notch - I set a signal everywhere, every building, even most basements - and they have a really solid selection of handsets (though I'd kill for a Series 60 with EV-DO)

But man, if you have to call customer support... I'd rather shoot myself! If you're not talking to someone who is in the data department, they're all friggin idiots.

That said - e-mail support is worlds better. I had a simple question that I sent via e-mail and got a long, personalized, informative response back... go figure!

[TIMMAH!!! @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

"...and ranked the carriers on stuff like hold times (T-Mobile had the shortest, with hold times of 2.27 minutes vs. the industry average of 3.44 minutes)"

Uh yeah, doesn't that mean that they just have more bodies in their outsourced call center?

Customer Care != Good Coverage
Customer Care != Good Phones

Why not rank the carriers in terms of something we really care about? My personal ranking:

1) Verizon
2) AT&T/Cingular
...
Dead Last) Sprint

I've had experiences with Verizon and AT&T (pre-merger) and they were okay in terms of plans and coverage. I also had a Sprint phone for a while and it was the worst service, dropped calls, and my home was in a PCS hole, so I couldn't make or receive calls at home.

[Mary @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Hmmm I have a few complaints about their customer service. I got a Blackberry and called to request the $60 Blackberry plan. I was told it wasn't available so he changed me to a more expensive regular plan PLUS Blackberry so he could make me renew my contract. I went online to look at my plan and THERE it was. $60 vs $80 for what he had put on my account.

[Logan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Man, this is so true.T-mobile has the best phones, the best plans, and best prices. Every other company tries to get you into a 2-year contract just to get a descent deal on a phone. T-mobile has better phones and only 1-year contracts. And by the way, T-mobile is the 3rd largest cell phone company...so not so small as you people try to make it look.

[Nate MC @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Too bad T-Mobile can't get any reception at my house otherwise I would've stayed with them, but AT&T/Cingular has perfect reception at my house.

Sure step outside to talk and they all work, but that doesn't help when I need a computer while on the phone.

T-Mobile has been known for some scheisty things, i don't know if they still do this but after your contract expired if you didn't renew it you had to pay for long distance, 3 friends I had not knowing this got hit with $200-$400 bills, and they would only drop the price if you signed up with a new contract with them. AT&T never did anything like that to me, I went for a year without a contract with them and paid the same.

[Vinit @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Hey,

For a company that does NOT offer 24x7 customer service, how the frack did Verizon end up 2nd?

T-Mobile rocks!!! 4 years and counting!!!

[Vadim Lozko @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I'll put myself up to the firing squad and say I like Sprint. Had a few billing quirks, but nothing that couldn't be solved easily.

My confusion would be how JD Powers does their surveys. I think they're inconsistent. For example, in Sprint's case, if someone hated Sprint's customer service so much, wouldn't say everything was bad about it? Look at JD Powers' other rankings. Call quality, Sprint ranked top in 2 markets and average or above average in others. Most satisfaction in a wireless product? Sanyo, a Sprint exclusive. I know there quite a few of you here who HATE Sprint, but can you at least follow my logic?

Also, I think they sample size is too small. 8,600 people contacted? That's it? After doing rough calculations based upon total number of customers per carrier, Sprint should average out to be 15% of the 8,600 customers, or about 1,300. Anyone who took statistics should know that that number is too small to follow a distribution curve accurately for accurate distribution of customers per carrier. (sorry if that last sentence doesn't make sense)

Just my 2 cents.

[Vadim Lozko @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

#26, T-mobile is #5, The order is:

#1 Cingular
#2 Verizon
#3 Sprint
#4 Nextel
#5 T-mobile

Will be #4 once Sprint Nextel merge.

[Donny Carcharo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I was only very briefly a Sprint Wireless customer but I have had some experience with their long distance service in a round-about way. For a period of about 2 years I kept receiving a bill from Sprint in the ballpark of $100 for long distance service even though my carrier was AT&T. My local telco confirmed my phone was locked to AT&T, had been for years, and that the calls were never made. Despite this Sprint would not back down.

After dozens and dozens of calls, sending me to collections and getting a mark on my credit I finally gave up and paid the bill *even though I had never been a Sprint Long distance Customer*. It was the only way to end the nonsense.

Needless to say I'd never actually do business with that company.

[mehool @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

16. Posted Jun 8, 2005, 9:53 PM ET by consumer_q

I have been doing some research on good, low priced camera phones for Verizon. email me if you need any info: [e-mail]
My girlfriend and I plan to go with a couple of V265's because we want to have analog on our phones and because the LG 6100 seems nice, but not worth the extra money over the V265. If budget wasn't a problem I would go with the V710 but that'll cost me $100 per phone after rebates.

I will be able to get the V710 for free if I decide to go with Letstalk.com or Wirefly.com (inphonic.com is parent company). But i've hearde terrible things about there rebate process. Many people never get their rebates even when they follow instructions to a T. once again, email me if you have any questions or care to chat and tell me what you decided upon.

Also, has anyone had any good luck with mail in rebates to wirefly.com or letstalk.com? I'm not talking about the carrier rebates. I'm talking about the larger ones, the ones that are called "customer appreciation rebates" or something like that.

>
count on it.

[mehool @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

oh man, i can't believe i said "there rebate process" instead of "their rebate process" embarrasing grammar mistake. n e waaaaays..

[Marc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I used to work 411 for Sprint and we would get people calling us to complain about how long they were on hold with customer care, fully aware they were being charged the directory assistance rate of $1.25 at the time. I would even offer to credit their calls (since they weren't even asking for a phone number) and most of them declined, saying that it was worth it just to talk to a "real person."

Personally, I have Tmo now, I love my SK II, and the only time I have to talk to customer care is when there's a problem with wireless data (which is more the fault of Danger than Tmo).

[steveo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Verizon is the WORST phone company.Ive been trying to get in touch w verizon about their postmaster BLOCKING my emails where they have no jurisdiction regarding my emails.I tried to reach them through customer care and after I fill out all my info they give me a prompt that the website isnt available! Verizon is the WORST phone company.

[troye dean @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Tmobile sucks i ordered a new phone razor did not work with there soft where for tweb and tzones on fourth phone now my bill is 800.00 because they keep charging me for 4 of them only have one and still wont work right told be i was liabile for payment but they have the three phones got hung up on told to shut up and to bad buy a diff phone worse customer service

[cingularsux @ Jan 8th 2006 3:55AM]

If anyone out there is reading this and contemplating getting a new cell phone, I implore you to not use Cingular as your carrier. I just had a terrible experience with their customer service dept. that I would like to share.



A couple of weeks ago I ordered a Motorola Razr for my wife for Christmas on Amazon.com. They were running a deal where you sign up for a 2 year plan with Cingular and you get the phone for free. I jumped on the deal, because the Razr is a pretty cool phone and it was free, so I figured I couldn't go wrong. I had Cingular on my own cell and have never had a problem.



So, last Monday, I get a call from Cingular telling me that someone found the phone and that I should call him so that I could get it back. I thought this was strange, but I called Cingular and they gave me the guy's number. I called the guy's number but his mailbox was full and I had to leave a callback number. So I did and the guy never calls back. A couple of days later I called again and this time someone answers. He tells me he doesn't have the phone, but he knows who does and he gives me another number to call. I call that number and I get a business and the guy that answers knows nothing about it and tells me to call back tomorrow. I call back tomorrow and get a answering service. So, I leave a message for someone to call me back if they know anything about the phone. And today, I called the original number again, only to get the callback number message again. At this point its been almost a week that I've been trying to track this phone down and I'm no closer to getting the thing than I was before this whole ordeal started. So, I decide to call Cingular wireless to relay my frustration with trying to get my phone.



The woman I talk to listens to my story and tells me I don't know what you want us to do about it. We didn't ship you the phone and we are not responsible for lost or stolen phones. So, I tell her that I think Cingular is somewhat responsible here because they are the carrier and they are getting the money every month and they should have taken control of the whole situation as soon as the guy called their customer service. So, I ask to speak to a manager.



The manager is even less help. He basically tells me the same thing and that I need to deal with Amazon not Cingular. Now, here is my suggestion to Cingular for handling lost and found phones. When the guy called in to report the phone found(a very cool thing to do, btw, he's just trying to do the right thing) they should have told him to drop the phone off at a Cingular store and have the Cingular store either ship it to me or have me come and pick it up. Am I crazy for thinking this is a reasonable thing to do? Instead they have me calling people all week long without getting anywhere. All they had to do was take a tiny bit of ownership for the problem and everyone would have been happy. Instead they decide to take no responsibility at all and when they are told that they point the finger and blame everyone but themselves. That is not customer service. I even told the guy, "Have you ever heard the expression, 'The customer is always right?'" To which he replied, "Yes I have and that is not always the case." At this point I'm so mad I'm cursing at this douchebag and I tell him I want to cancel both phones that I have on Cingular. He tells me, "Not unless you start acting professional." WTF??? I'm the customer and I tell him your fucking company is the one that is acting unprofessional. He proceeds to begin cancelling my service and tells me there will be a $150 early termination fee for each device. I tell him that under the circumstances I think that fee should be waived. He replies that he is not going to waive any fees. So I tell him, "Man, you're fucking unbelievable. FUCK YOU!!!" and I hang up and call Amazon.



The girl at Amazon is very nice and she simply reports the phone as stolen and tells me she is going to ship a new one next day at no extra charge. HALLELUJAH!!! Now that's good customer service. She immediately took ownership of the situation and rectified it without asking any further questions. A plus plus for Amazon, F for Fucking Assholes for Cingular. Unfortunately the girl at Amazon wouldn't let me cancel Cingular without the termination fee, but the bottom line is I'm finally gonna get this god-damn phone!!



As soon as the contract with Cingular ends I am switching carriers. I would recommend the same to anyone who is currently on Cingular. Let's send a message to these motherfuckers. The customer is too always right asshole and we have fucking options, so take your self-righteous fucking attitude and shove it up your fucking ass!! I'm gonna take my business elsewhere!! You don't seem to understand. I have friends and they have friends and the power of negative word of mouth is something you don't wanna fuck with. When that fucker is standing in the unemployment line I will be laughing my ass off, because the people do have the power and we vote everyday with our money. Your company will go down. Mark my fucking words.



Well, now that I've got that off my chest, if anyone knows of a carrier with good customer service please let me know as I will be shopping around and changing in the near future. Thank you and FUCK CINGULAR!!